What He Lives For
by DieselFire
Summary: It's about how Dom's relationship with Letty has grown & matured, and how his priorities have changed.
1. Prologue

Title: What He Lives For

**Title**: What He Lives For

**Rating**: G

**Pairing**: DOTTY!

**Summary**: Something that came to me in lit class the other day.

People said that when Dominic Toretto found out that his long-time girl friend, Letty Mendez, was pregnant with their first child, it made him soft. Others argued that it made him fall even more in love with Letty than he already was.

Truth be told, both were true to an extent. Before Letty's pregnancy, one would be hard pressed to find Dominic Toretto engaged in an act of affection in public. After was a different story entirely. It was like they were teenagers again—when they'd first gotten together.

Three and a half years later, Dominic Toretto still frequented the races, occasionally taking on racers south of the Border. But now, he doesn't do it because he lives for the thrill—though it still plays a minor part.

What he lives for now waits for him at home—his wife and daughter. Four and a half years of marriage and Letty's still pretty much the same—minus the trade mark scowl that, at one time, seemed set in stone across her features.

She'd gotten what she wanted—what she so desperately needed from Dominic Toretto; the only thing she's ever really cared about: the promise of forever in Dominic Toretto's arms. Her recently concluded pregnancy had reinforced her position in his world, as well as causing her to fall even more in love with Dominic than she'd ever been—something she didn't think was possible.

She was asleep on the couch when he got home—at 8:45. She'd been so tired since the baby came. The very prospect of motherhood had scared the living hell out of her. For Dominic, though, it had brought about a side of Letty that—even after six years together—he was still rarely able to catch a glimpse of.

If this had been five years ago, one would have best been advised to get as far away from the house as possible, lest chancing becoming swept up in another one of Letty and Dom's all-night-long fights.

These days, it was different—so much different. they had the house to themselves. These days, if he came home after she'd either fallen asleep or passed out, she was just happy that he was home. He could pull her to her feet and hold her in his arms, moving in place to music only he heard.

This was what he lived for. This was his life.


	2. Forever Love

Chapter One: Forever Love

**Chapter One:**** Forever Love**

There are few moments Letty lives for the way she used to live for the rush of nitrous.

She finds it funny how, after all the years she an Dominic had been together, her heart still skipped a beat whenever he said that he loved her, even though he knew that she knew he loved her.

She love the fact that these days their fights—the same ones that had once been sparked by something as meaningless as the skanks at races and usually ended in louder-than-hell fights—now ended in laughter, which in turn led to intimate moments on the garage's couch that rivaled the moments the couch had seen in years before.

She lives for the monthly barbecues, when things feel almost like she's in the twilight zone—music, laughter, food, their family. But more than anything, Letty loved Dominic. There were times when Letty seemed to eat, sleep and breathe Dominic Toretto.

She remembers the night he came back, mere hours after they'd all split up, she and Mia had gone back to the house, Letty promptly passing out on the sofa. Somewhere around four in the morning, he'd come back to the house. She'd been sleeping—or trying to—fitfully when he came back to take her with him…to take her with him to Tokyo.

The car ride was short, to LAX. Contrary to Letty's expectations upon arriving there, from the 747 she'd expected him to take her to. Instead, they were swiftly taken to a sleek, as-expensive-as-it-seemed air craft.

i "Dom, what are you doing? How did you get…?" She tried to ask, her motor skills failing when she heard his voice rumble softly in her ear.

"I promised you a beach in Mexico, Letty," she heard him growl, "But right now, I think it should be up to you where we go." Hearing this, her heart stopped. He was serious. There was no questioning the legitimacy of his words, or suspicions of ulterior motives. /i

So from that night on for almost a year, after a very brief stop in Tokyo to pay respects to Mr. Kamata, they wined and dined their way across Asia and Europe, backtracking after reaching the U.K. to the Tuscan region of Italy.

It was there, in a Villa that Kamata had gifted to Dominic as a gift of goodwill, that he'd proposed. It was there that Letty'd fallen madly, unstoppably in love with Dominic Toretto—all over again.

They'd chosen—after much heated debate with Mia, who'd damned herself by volunteering to be Letty's wedding planner—to have the wedding at the Villa, in addition to the honeymoon to Rome, Venice and Florence.


	3. Letty Remembers

**A/N: this chapter is entirely flashbacks.**

**Chapter Two:**** Letty Remembers…**

Whoever said laughter was contagious had no idea just how right they were.

When she was younger, she'd played it off like she had no sense of humor. She'd just roll her eyes and make some smartass sarcastic comment.

But now, when he laughed, she laughed. She didn't know how he did it, but Dominic had the power to make her laugh because she was happy or because she was so damn mad at him that it was all she could do, some times uncontrollably.

There were few times when Letty would actually cry in public.

Both of those times, Dom was crying too.

The first was at her parents' funeral when she was twelve—four years before she would even register on his radar.

The second was at his father's funeral. He'd always been so strong, so difficult to read emotionally.

After the service, back at the house after all the guests had left and it was just Vince, Mia, she and Dom, things went from tense and grievous to angst-ridden.

Then, when she'd leaned in to whisper a good-night, their lips met.

And for a moment, it was like time had stopped before he pulled away and trod off to his room.

A week later, he came home covered in blood, scaring Letty and Mia half to death, though Letty would never admit to it, and within minutes, Mia had gone from fear to straight hysteria.

Letty had Vince take her out of the room as she set about cleaning the blood from him, and removing the stained white shirt and undershirt he'd been wearing when he'd left, silently ordering herself not to stare.

And then it happened—again.

He kissed her—**again**—but it was different this time. She could feel every ounce of fear, rage—all the raw emotions—through that small piece of physical contact.

Not knowing how to or what else would comfort him, she kissed back, her arms wrapped around his neck, careful not to hurt him.

When she felt his hand on her cheek, she felt she might die if there were anymore physical contact. The kiss deepened at the slightest, barely-there touch of his tongue, drawing a moan from her.

She'd never been much for dancing, which made the fact that she **would** dance with Dom all the more ironic.

The first time he danced with her was shortly after he'd come home from Lompoc at her birthday party. She couldn't put her finger on it but there was something about him that told her to just let him lead her.

That was when, she supposes, that first spark lit up again.

That was when she knew that she loved him.

That was when she fell—really fell; hard and hopelessly in love with him—the first time


End file.
